Look at the coffee-stained book cover. Tommy Pic, the novella’s protagonist, is scratched in red. He’s a thirty-something B-Movie screenwriter, recently released from the mental facility. His latest script, What Makes You Die, is a horror movie that he hopes his crummy agent can sell.

At the bottom of the manuscript/book cover is a komodo dragon. He has no name, so perhaps his image is there bearing co-authorship. Or perhaps not — Tommy Pic once tried to cut the dragon out of his intestines with a steak knife. Tommy’s mental issues are such that he can never really trust reality. He suffers from bi-polar disorder, manic depression, and possibly PTSD. Despite his mental instability, Pic has managed to eek out a living and has sold a few…